Superhydrophobic Modification on Copper Plate...

Superhydrophobic Modification on Copper Plate By Pentaflurobenzoic Acid And Copper Chloride

Author Name : S. Riyasdeen

ABSTRACT

Superhydrophobic self-cleaning surfaces are attracting enormous attention due to their potential in industrial applications. Water drops eventually roll off the superhydrophobic surface due to their extremely high contact angles (θ > 150-160 °). The contaminants accumulated on such surfaces can be easily detached and washed off by the instantaneously rolling spherical water droplets. This surface self-cleaning behaviour is famously acknowledged as the ‘lotus effect’. In nature, the lotus leaf performs outstanding self-cleaning behaviour due to its excellent superhydrophobic properties and therefore the lotus leaf remains clean and shiny forever. The excellent non-wetting properties of the lotus leaf are mainly due to the good coverage of a low surface energy wax material on the micro-/nanoscale hierarchical surface structure. Such natural self-cleaning superhydrophobic surfaces can be artificially developed on copper plate. In the present investigation surface modified copper plate was prepared by chemical etching reaction using two different chemical agents such as PFBA and CuCl₂. The prepared sample was characterized by various analytical techniques such as X-ray diffractogram (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, FE-SEM, UV-visible spectroscopy, Water contact angle measurement. The contact angle θ>150° shows that the prepared sample possess superhydrophophic nature.

Keywords: Superhydrophobic, XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM, UV-Vis-spectroscopy, Contact angle measurement.